In the last 48 hours, rain has eroded its deep bunkers until they resemble giant ant farms. The next 48 hours will require roughly 500 hours of labor to prepare Blue Top Ridge to host the first-ever Golfweek Conference Challenge.

The maintenance capabilities to prepare for a major event in harsh conditions is a feature Blue Top Ridge Golf Director Bryan Haas hopes will someday land the Riverside course a PGA Tour event.

“Having a major college event like this is one of those stepping stones to be able to showcase our facility,” he said.

Running a course designed by Rees Jones — also know as the “Open Doctor” — also helps. He has designed more than 100 courses, including seven U.S. Open courses, five PGA Championship sites, and three Ryder Cup venues.

Blue Top Ridge is the longest course in Iowa and features the longest hole in the state as well. The par five, 16th can play as long as 665 yards, and the fairway seems to be endless when standing in the tee box.

Changing elevations, sloping greens, and the course’s 88 bunkers, some of which are more than 2,000 square feet in size — or the equivalent of three to four bunkers combined at an average course — make the course challenging for golfers of any skill level.

“The greens have steep undulations, and if you hit into a bunker off the tee, you are almost guaranteed a bogey,” Iowa head coach Mark Hankins said. “There are no gimme holes. There are going to be a lot of mistakes made, and I am interested to see how the scores turn out.”

But many Iowa golfers are confident they will play well at the tournament, having played on the course several times.

“It helps playing on a course you are familiar with,” junior Brad Hopfinger said. “You know where you can miss and where you can’t, and you know the best places to hit if you get into trouble.”

The Riverside course also features a performance studio, accessible to all Hawkeye golfers.

A “K-Vest,” which follows the kinematic sequence of a player’s swing — the movement of the chest, hips, and hands — is also available to the Hawkeyes.

Golfweek’s Conference Challenge is the first collegiate golf tournament of the fall season, and features 15 teams from 15 different conferences, including Iowa. The popular golf magazine wanted to start a tradition involving college sports, and Blue Top Ridge was a perfect selection for the inaugural event, assistant editor for Golfweek.com, Lance Ringler said.

“We want to make this event similar to the pre-season National Invitational Tournament in college basketball,” Ringler said. “Anyone can throw a tournament together, but we wanted to find a unique format by having every team from a different conference.”

Hankins said the variety and location of the competition will be helpful.

“You don’t get to the NCAA Championships without playing the best teams in college golf,” Hankins said.